Reflections

Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables; without a parable he told them nothing.   -- Matthew 13:34  Like an artist who doesn’t explain her work but shows it to you, Jesus tells parables and expects his hearers (and we are hearers more than listeners!) to...

"But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall."  - Malachi 4:2 The last book in the Hebrew Bible has God's Messenger dealing with...

"In the night I saw a man riding on a red horse! He was standing among the myrtle trees in the glen; and behind him were red, sorrel, and white horses. Then I said, “What are these, my lord?” The angel who talked with me said to me, “I will show you what they are.”   ...

"Yet now take courage, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; take courage, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest; take courage, all you people of the land, says the Lord; work, for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts."   - Haggai 2:4 "Only a demanding common task...

"Be silent before the Lord God!     For the day of the Lord is at hand; On that day ... On that day ... And on that day."  -- Zephaniah 1: 7ff Here we go again. Another prophet with another warning of terror. To be a prophet, you need a strong heart. It takes courage...

Though the fig tree does not blossom,     and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails,     and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold,     and there is no herd in the stalls,      yet I will rejoice in the Lord;...

"Yahweh is good, a stronghold in a day of troubles, protecting those who take refuge in God."  -- Nahum 1:7 God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good. It is a popular call and response. I'm not sure of its origins. I recall it as I sit with Nahum, the...

"He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"  -- Micah 6:8 All prophets claim authority. Most prophets are full of courage. Micah balances authority and...

"Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish."  Jonah 2:1 Now about that fish, the whale that swallowed Jonah. Some scholars believe the Book of Jonah is the story of a real life messenger of God: Jonah, son of Amittai, a prophet of the northern...

"Though you soar like the eagle, and your nest is set among the stars, From there I will bring you down—      oracle of the LORD."  Obadiah 1:4 Speaking in metaphor, Obadiah addresses the Edomites who lived among the cliffs and mountaintops around the Dead Sea. They...

"But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”  -- Amos 5:24  What a drenching vision Amos has, this farmer prophet from a small village in Judea, called to preach to the people of the north...

 "In  the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, as I was among the exiles by the river Chebar, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God."  -- Ezekiel 1:1 To read Ezekiel you need mind and heart engaged. He is a seer, a visionary....